The Blaine School Board held a work session on Monday focusing on student behavior, discipline and how schools are tackling behavioral problems, featuring presentations from administrators from each of Blaine’s four schools.
School principals from primary to high school showed data on behavioral incidents from the 2024-25 and current school year.
Two major aspects that stood out in the data was how the district has responded to more stringent closed campus and cell phone policies introduced in the 2025-26 school year.
Chris Bolt, dean of students at Blaine High School, presented to the five-member school board two years of behavior incident data. Bolt showed that non-attendance behavior has gone up from 101 incidents in the 2024-25 school year to 228 incidents so far this school year.
One of the largest year over year increases in behavior incidents was cell phone use, which spiked from 10 reported incidents in 2024-25 to 92 through roughly eight months of the 2025-26 school year.
The spike can be explained by the new cell phone policy, which was enacted before the start of the current school year. Last year, incidents were not enforced nor tracked as scrupulously as they are currently, said BHS Principal Beth Eide.
On paper, that has made for a massive jump in reported incidents. But in the classroom, there have been multiple reports from teachers, parents and students of a more engaged student body. Even Superintendent Dan Chaplik noticed a difference.
“Ninety-two (incidents) looks like a big number,” Chaplik said. “But the incidents among kids are not anything like it was. The rule in place is helping. When I’m on campus and we’re visiting classrooms, I don’t see (phones). It has improved remarkably.”
The board and administrators also discussed the district’s efforts to better enforce the closed campus policy.
Chaplik said the new enforcement has been so successful that some fast food restaurants across State Route 543 from campus have decided to close for lunch because they are no longer serving hungry students leaving campus.
“Not that that’s what we’re trying to do,” Chaplik said to some chuckles from the audience. “Our schools were serving them, and (students) need to be on campus eating lunch. It was a very unsafe practice.”
Across each of the four presentations, administrators touched on the importance of clear communication of the district’s expectations. All are trying to teach their students acceptable behavior, get parents involved when there is bad behavior, and recognize students who show good behavior.
Blaine Middle School Principal Darren Benson said he and his administration make an effort to be early and greet students positively in hallways and every morning.
“That’s the best part of my day,” Benson said.
